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Laura Coates Live

A Massive Earthquake Triggered Multiple Tsunami Alerts; Trump Says Epstein "Stole" Young Women From Mar-A-Lago; "Laura Coates Live" Provides The Latest Update On Midtown Manhattan Shooting; "Laura Coates Live" Presents "America Asks." Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired July 29, 2025 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[23:00:00]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good evening. I'm Laura Coates. The breaking news tonight, there is a massive earthquake that has triggered multiple tsunami alerts all across the Pacific region, including Alaska, including Hawaii, and the entire United States West Coast. The 8.8 magnitude quake, it hit off Russia's East Coast just before 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Now, this is some of the first video that we are seeing of the aftermath. It's from Russia's Far East and it shows waves moving into a group of buildings and at least one structure being moved by the water.

This is the strongest earthquake on the planet since 2011, when a 9.0 quake struck Japan and triggered a devastating tsunami. Japan is currently under a tsunami warning, and one official there is warning about waves as high as about 10 feet.

I'm going to go ahead with CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison, what is the likelihood that that tsunami waves will hit the United States coastlines? And if so, when could they do that?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, so, let's answer the first part of your question, which is, will it? You know, what is the likelihood? And the likelihood is very high, that the U.S. will see some type of tsunami wave. The one thing we just don't know at this point is how strong those tsunami waves, how high are they going to be, what kind of damage would they end up causing in some of those areas.

Now, here is the look at where the earthquake took place. This is the 8.8. It was 13 miles deep. That may seem like very deep, but it's not. It's actually very shallow in terms of geological things.

So, when we take a look at this, the tsunami waves are going to continue to propagate outward. Okay? So, they're going to continue to stretch out. The unfortunate part is when they propagate out in this direction, that really kind of puts Hawaii, in particular, kind of right there in the main line of the target.

Now, we've talked about Japan, for example. They're kind of off to the side. Same thing with some of these Aleutian Islands. So, they may not necessarily get some of the largest of the tsunami waves. It may actually end up being some other entities. And this is why you have all of these places under some type of tsunami alert.

The orange color here for the Western Aleutian Islands as well as Hawaii, those are under the tsunami warning. The yellow color here for the remainder of the Aleutian Islands as well as the entire western coast of the U.S. and portions of Canada as well, that is under a tsunami advisory, a little bit farther out. The good news there is they will get a little bit more leeway in terms of timing and a heads up.

So, here's what we're talking about. Here's a look at that. So, here's where the epicenter was. This is the propagating lines. This kind of tells us how long it's going to take before the tsunami waves would arrive in certain places. So, you can see some of them have already started to arrive in portions of Japan and even into the Aleutian Islands, at least the very, very far western ones, but they're off to the side. It's really going to be the center portion of this that we are most concerned about in terms of some of those highest waves.

So, let's talk about the timeline here. Okay? So, Kodiak, Alaska, for example, the arrival time should be right around 12:20. These are all listed in Eastern times, by the way, so you will have to adjust if this is somewhere where you live. Southeastern Alaska, likely between 12:45 and 1:55 a.m. Eastern Time. Hawaii, likely around 1:15 a.m. Eastern Time. Washington and Oregon, the states there, between 2:35 and 2:55 Eastern Time. And then California, the northern portion of the state, likely around that 2:50 to 3:00 a.m. timeline Eastern Time. And then Southern California would likely be farther down, closer to around 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time, which would be 1:00 a.m. Pacific Time. So again, just to kind of give you the timeline there of some of those.

And when we talk about this earthquake in general, it's listed as an 8.8. That puts it in the great category of the high end. We also talked about the shallow stuff, too, Laura. Again, I know, 13 miles, that seems very, very deep for a lot of folks, but in terms of earthquakes, anything that is less than 44 miles is actually considered shallow, and those are the ones that are the big concern here because those are the ones that can really lead to that large displacement of water. As long as it's the correct fault line, they can end up turning into some rather large tsunami.

So, this is certainly going to be something we're going to have to keep a close eye on over the couple of hours as those waves get closer and closer to the U.S. coastline.

COATES: I'm just watching in the way that -- that you show the propagation of those waves outwards, when the first tsunami waves in Japan are reportedly lower than they initially even forecast. But that still doesn't mean anything for, say, Hawaii or the West Coast of the United States in terms of how those waves might propagate now. Right? CHINCHAR: Correct. It's -- again, they're on the fringe of it. So, you don't necessarily get the highest waves when you're on the fringe. So, yes, it's important to kind of see what the wave heights are when they hit places like Japan, when they hit the Western Aleutian Islands.

[23:05:04]

But you also need to keep in mind that that doesn't always mean it's going to be the same everywhere else it goes, especially when it comes to Hawaii, because they're really kind of in that center point where a lot of those waves are really going to propagate outward. So, certainly something we're still going to have to keep a close eye on in the coming hours.

COATES: Allison Chinchar, please continue to help us navigate what's happening there as well.

I want to go to Maui. We've got meteorologist Laura Buchtel, who is on -- there for vacation, had to evacuate. Laura, what are you seeing? We're hearing about this earthquake, the tsunami. The odds of you being there at this time, my goodness. Tell me. Give me your eyes. What do you see?

LAURA BUCHTEL, METEOROLOGIST: I'm used to hurricanes. I'm from New Orleans, so very used to hurricanes. This is -- this is a whole new -- whole new thing.

COATES: Oh.

BUCHTEL: So, we'll say our alarms -- our alarms start to go and off on our cellphones at about 1:30, 2:00 Maui time, and everybody was starting to really kind of panic at that point. Even some of the staff at our resort were, like, okay, this is not a drill, this is the real thing, you need to get in Lindner, get up country or, you know, however you can. And so, we decided to throw our stuff in the bags. You know, throw all of our things in the bags, get in the car, and get on the road.

I don't know if that was a good idea or not just because the roads are crazy jammed right now. If you know anything about Maui in general, it's kind of one road in. We were up in the Kapalua area. And so, we were headed kind of back toward the airport, toward Kahului, and it is gridlock.

So, we're just, you know, just kind of listening to the radio, listening to locals, seeing what they're saying to do. Everybody seems to be taking this seriously and heading inland.

COATES: What are they advising you to do locally?

BUCHTEL: Yeah. So -- so far, they just said, follow the warnings, right, which the warnings that came to the phone and said, get inland, get away from shoreline. You know, they're saying anywhere from one meter to three meter-depth of maybe the -- the -- the water. They're not sure. I mean, I'm hoping that's inflated. I hope it's not that much. So, we decided to come to the airport. We thought that was going to be kind of a safe place to be, especially if something goes on later tonight, and just see what happens. Hopefully, it's not as bad as expected and we can go back to the resort, and go back and everyone is safe, and that sort of thing. But I will say, everybody seems to be taking this seriously. You know, everyone seems to be getting gas, going inland, getting away from the coastline.

COATES: When you talk about the gridlock -- I mean, our cars actually stopped trying to go places, our people trying to navigate slowly. Give us a sense of just how far inland one would have to go in a place like Hawaii to get away from where a tsunami could reach.

(LAUGHTER)

BUCHTEL: You know, again, as a native New Orleanian, I'm not used to getting -- we have no mountains. You say, get inland, we don't really know what that means.

COATES: Uh-hmm.

BUCHTEL: So, we're just kind of following where everybody else was saying to go. Right? They were saying get away from the coast, go up. And as soon as you kind of get away from the resorts, which are beach level --

COATES: Uh-hmm.

BUCHTEL: -- you do start getting some elevation pretty quickly. So, again, I'm thinking people are just trying to get home. You know, locals are trying to get home, get safe, get their families, of course, and then the rest of us are just trying to go away from the beach, away from where the water is and wait this out. They're saying, I think, two more hours before the first wave may hit this area. So, we're just kind of waiting it out.

COATES: And quickly, they told you -- did they give you a timeline of when to expect that potential first wave?

BUCHTEL: If -- they're saying around just after 7:00 local time, Hawaii time.

COATES: Okay.

BUCHTEL: So, it's just after 5:00 now. So, another two hours or so. So, I think they were just giving everybody enough heads up to get to their safe place.

From what I understand, there are some zones that are more vulnerable than others. So, they want everyone to be able to get where they're -- where they're feeling safe and feeling like they're in a good spot.

Again, we just threw our stuff in a bag. That's why I look -- I look pretty disheveled. But we just threw everything in a bag and headed toward the airport to just kind of get away from everything. We're going to see how things go over the next several hours and evaluate then.

COATES: I certainly hope you will remain safe there at the airport. Please keep us informed. It's peak travel season in places like Hawaii for the tourists.

(LAUGHTER)

So, my goodness. Laura, stay safe, please. We're going to have more --

BUCHTEL: Thanks so much.

COATES: -- we're going to have more on the tsunami alerts throughout the hour right here. Do not worry.

There's another huge story we've been following tonight, and that's the fallout over the Jeffrey Epstein files, the new question that is now front and center.

We already knew Trump and Epstein were friends. I mean, Trump told us that. And that at some point, they stopped being friends. Trump also told us that. And for a long time, it seemed we knew the answer to what happened to that friendship. Trump said why. But wait. Because today, he offered a different reason. It wasn't a real estate deal gone bad, maybe not just, or because he was acting like a creep at his country club, or that, or allegedly hitting on a member's daughter.

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Perhaps it was all or something else because today, he says that Epstein stole young women from Mar-a-Lago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He took people. And because he took people, I said, don't do it anymore. You know, they work for me. And he took -- beyond that, he took some others. And once he did that, that was the end to him. I didn't like -- when they steal people, I don't like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: They steal people. Now, that sounds like a non-way to talk about a -- perhaps sex trafficking victim. It is. But Trump's claim is worth examining not just for the word choice here because -- I'm going to break it down the old-fashioned way with the five W's. You know, the who, the what, the where, the when, the why. You just heard what? Trump's latest claim for the breakup. And where? He says Epstein stole the workers from his Mar-a-Lago spa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have a great spa, one of the best spas in the world at Mar-a- Lago. And people were taken out of the spa. Hired by him. In other words -- God. When I heard about it, I told him, I said, listen, we don't want you taking our people. Whether it was spa or not spa, I don't want him taking people. And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again, and I said, out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Which gets us to the who question because Trump was asked whether the workers he says Epstein was stealing were young women. They didn't want to say it first. But then he was asked this question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Did one of those stolen, you know, persons, that include Virginia Giuffre?

TRUMP: I don't know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Yes, that name should sound familiar. Virginia is one of Epstein's most prominent accusers. She alleged that he trafficked her and forced her to have sex with powerful men, including Britain's Prince Andrew, a claim that he denies. She died by suicide earlier this year.

Now, the when becomes critically important here because she claimed in a 2016 deposition that she fell into Epstein's net after Ghislaine Maxwell saw her working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago back in 2000. That was two years before the infamous Trump comment about Epstein saying -- quote -- "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side" -- unquote.

Which gets us to the why. Trump is saying the what is the why. Epstein was taking workers from his Mar-a-Lago spa, and he didn't like it. That answer is actually not one that has been reported before, though. A 2019 Washington Post report says the two fell out over a battle for a Palm Beach oceanfront property in 2004. At the same time, in 2019, Trump didn't seem to want to give a reason for the rift.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I did have a falling out a long time ago. The reason doesn't make any difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: It might. Just last week, the White House says Trump booted Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for -- quote -- "being a creep." Trump was asked to square that difference between that and what he's now saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Your administration in the past said that you threw him out because he was a creep. So, can you explain that discrepancy?

TRUMP: Well, maybe they're the same thing. You know, sort of a little bit of the same thing. But no. He took people that work for me. I told him not to do it anymore. He did it. I said, stay the hell out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: With me now, editor-in-chief and owner of All Rise News, Adam Klasfeld, former chief of the SDNY's Westchester division, Mimi Rocah, and CNN's senior political commentator, former Republican congressman, Adam Kinzinger.

Adam, let's begin with you. Adam Klasfeld that is. So, Trump is now saying that Epstein stole -- interesting word choice, I have to say -- employees, one of whom was a young woman from Mar-a-Lago, possibly the late Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Epstein's most prominent accusers, as you well know. This, of course, raises questions about what and when he knew about Epstein's at least familiarity with Virginia, perhaps his behavior. Surely, he must have known that by mentioning her, how that would land.

ADAM KLASFELD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND CO-FOUNDER, ALL RISE NEWS: Absolutely. And to your introduction, your opener laid out exactly why his explanation makes no sense. She said at her deposition, while checking the Mar-a-Lago records of her employment, that she worked there very briefly in 2000. In 2002, he's making that infamous quote praising Epstein, and the falling out is four years later.

[23:15:04]

And the person who recruited her from Mar-a-Lago when she was a spa attendant was Ghislaine Maxwell, the person who he wished well. He didn't have this rageful falling out with her. She was a person who Trump wished well and whose pardon he is not ruling out. So, there's contradiction upon contradiction in all of this, and it's just incredible that he said that in response to that question by a reporter.

COATES: You know, speaking of Ghislaine Maxwell, Mimi, she is making a slew of demands in order to testify before the House Oversight Committee. She wants immunity. She wants her questions in advance. She, apparently, wants a change of scenery because she doesn't want her prison to be the location for the interview where, of course, Todd Blanche was meeting with her at one point in that area. And a spokesperson for the committee, Mimi, has already poo-pooed that whole idea in terms of the immunity request.

But walk me through this process because even if she asked Congress for immunity, they're not the executive branch, the prosecutors who would oversee criminal immunity. They couldn't just unilaterally grant it in a way that would affect all of DOJ. But how would it even work if Congress wanted to extend immunity to her?

MIMI ROCAH, FORMER WESTCHESTER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY FOR SDNY: Well, I mean, I think, first of all, it's interesting that she and her lawyer feel so much in the driver's seat here. I mean, they seem to feel they have a lot of leverage because it takes a lot of gumption to make these demands, either because you know they're going to be refused and you don't really want to testify or because you think people are so desperate for you to testify that they might actually grant them.

But they're pretty bold set of demands. To say you want the questions in advance -- I mean, nobody gets that right or should get that because that's not -- those aren't real questions then.

And in terms of immunity, I mean, we've already heard reporting that she was given sort of limited immunity, meaning her answers when she met with the DOJ could not be used against her. That isn't blanket immunity. It doesn't mean she can never be prosecuted for something again just that her answers themselves could not be used against her. It's not totally clear to me what kind of immunity she's asking for here. But, presumably, it would have to still come from DOJ.

COATES: Right.

ROCAH: And so, you'd have to have cooperation from DOJ to Congress. And again, I think, you know, to some extent, she's not wrong that she's in the driver's seat because we have the deputy attorney general meeting with her. What other convicted defendant, particularly of any crime, let alone sex trafficking, gets that kind of attention? So, yeah, I mean, I think it just shows their state of mind about how much leverage they at least think they have.

COATES: And, of course, Congressman Kinzinger, this is the demand she's making after having met with him, not in order to meet with the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche. We know he's also a former personal attorney of Donald Trump. But she, based on, I'm assuming that conversation, do they think they have more leverage?

But you're a former member of the January 6th Committee. You know the congressional subpoena process very well. It's a tool for investigations. It's not normally in the context of a federal criminal proceeding. Can you give us some insight onto how the oversight committee could really seize upon and extract the most information from Maxwell if she testified? Do they really need DOJ to get that done?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER ILLINOIS REPRESENTATIVE: No. Look, here's -- here's an interesting point, and I don't know if this is a policy or if it's just in practice, I don't know the answer to that, but if Congress gives somebody immunity, it absolutely affects what DOJ can do. The idea that DOJ has to come in and grant immunity is absolutely not true.

So, if Congress -- and that's one of the things we had to deal with on the January 6th Committee. Could we offer immunity to somebody when there were all these criminal prosecutions going on and what would that do to DOJ's case? So, again, whether it's in practice or policy, that's the issue there.

So, what the committee is going to try to do -- by the way, it is for anybody that sees, you know, the deputy attorney general. We don't even know if FBI agents were there to take notes, by the way, which typically they are. Go and meet and not tell anybody what was said. I mean, it really feels like he went to find out what she knows and whether she's worth pursuing more on this.

The other thing to keep in mind is she is a child sex trafficker. She is not a victim. She's not somebody that we really want to get to know. And so, the committee now has to make that decision. But in offering immunity, it absolutely will affect what the DOJ can do in a criminal case.

[23:19:55]

COATES: But on that point, quickly, part of the issue with January 6th -- frankly, the previous impeachment proceeding against President Trump was about the fact that a witness did not believe that a congressional, even promise of immunity, would so impact the DOJ as to make them completely able to escape any criminal liability. It's a bit of a who gets the priority there. Right? How it's received.

KINZINGER: Yeah, kind of is. I think it's -- yeah, I think that's it. Also, look, you've got to look at from how does something hold up in court at any point.

COATES: Right.

KINZINGER: You know, granted immunity in Congress. They testify. They can go and say, you know, look, I was in essence in trap, I was compelled by Congress to testify, they're now using that testimony against me. And so, in practice, at least, it would be not smart to do that.

COATES: That's why immunity is something that can be very complex and people not just a matter of saying, fine, go ahead and tell me everything.

Everyone, thank you for your insight tonight. We have so much more ahead, including the award-winning investigative journalist who wrote the book on Jeffrey Epstein answering the questions that you have and have sent in. Keep them coming at cnn.com/epsteinquestions.

But first, the investigation into the 27-year-old gunman who shot up that Midtown New York building. The man left a suicide note. The question, does it get as closer to a motive and did he have some help getting part of the murder weapon you see there?

We'll have the update on the tsunami alerts as well. They're all across the West Coast. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: We are following the breaking news of a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake triggering tsunami alerts for Japan, Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. West Coast.

CNN's Ivan Watson joins me from Hong Kong. Ivan, we've seen the images of the waves impacting a town on Russia's Far East Coast, but initial waves in Japan, thankfully, are lower than expected. But where do things stand right now and what is expected from here?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, everybody is watching this very closely and taking it very seriously. The initial impact from this earthquake, just about four hours ago exactly, you had some buildings damaged in this sparsely populated region of eastern Russia, the Kamchatka region. And then we see images in social media of flooding, of tsunamis coming in and impacting coastal areas there.

Japan has issued some evacuations and ordered residents to go to seek higher ground in some regions. And the initial estimates of a tsunami were -- they arrived as less than expected, only about a foot-high wave. But they aren't taking any chances. In 2011, there was a 9.1 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 22,000 people in Japan due to the tsunami and the insuring nuclear Fukushima reactor disaster.

The entire Pacific rim, there are tsunami warnings, from Indonesia to the Philippines to Ecuador and Chile and, of course, to the U.S. territories of Guam, Hawaii where there are some evacuation orders, and then Alaska and Northern California and Oregon and Washington.

There -- we are estimating that the arrival time of possible tsunamis are still at least an hour away. But this is something that authorities are taking very, very seriously. This was the sixth most powerful earthquake ever recorded, 8.8 magnitude. Laura?

COATES: Ivan Watson, thank you so much. Keep us posted.

We're turning now to this story, a very important one here. A security guard, a recent college graduate, a real estate executive, and an NYPD officer. Those are the four victims of the Midtown Manhattan shooting that we are remembering tonight.

NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone executive Wesley Lepenter -- Lepatner -- excuse me -- security guard Aland Etienne, and Rubin employee Julia Hyman. In a poignant ceremony tonight, New York leaders, they gathered to remember their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): They were so well-loved by their parents, a husband, a wife, their children, their co-workers, that the pain is so searing right now. It seems unending.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: That as new information is revealing the terror that people face inside of that address, 345 Hark Avenue. Sources say that some employees broke through glass barriers just to try to escape the building and in a cruel twist of fate. Sources say the shooter walked through the shattered barriers to access the elevators.

Mayor Eric Adams says that Shane Devon Tamura was headed to the NFL offices, but he took the wrong elevator bank and ended up on the 33rd floor. The NYPD revealing these new images of the long rifle the shooter used and the revolver that was found inside of his vehicle.

Investigators believe the shooter was expected to go to work at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas just on Sunday, but he never showed up for work. Instead, police say that he drove across the country over the weekend before arriving in New York yesterday, just before the shooting. And a suicide note may reveal why he says he did it.

[23:29:52]

Police say it claimed Tamura suffered chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, after playing high school football, and blamed it on the NFL despite never playing for the NFL.

I want to bring in my well-sourced law enforcement experts, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller and former FBI senior profiler and special agent Mary Ellen O'Toole.

John, let me begin with you. The investigation is zeroing in on possible motive, who he knew, the who, what, when, where. What are they specifically looking for as they are searching his apartment in Las Vegas?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, two teams of detectives went out from New York, NYPD Homicide and NYPD FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, to dig into what they could find in that apartment from interviewing friends and associates.

And as the pieces come together, the motive is fairly clear. The notes in his pocket were about CTE, as you described it, his feeling that the NFL had stifled progress in the early days in the debate over whether CTE was real or whether they should act on it. A lot of this was influenced, he indicates, by a front-line documentary that ran as far back as 2013.

But there was his high school football career, his -- his indicators that he believed he had CTE. We learned in the car that they found medication Zoloft for depression, Zolmitriptan for migraines, cannabis either for recreation or for either of those conditions. So, we're starting to get a picture of who he is, some surprises. His father was an LAPD police officer for 18 years.

But what they're looking for in that apartment? And he helped them with that. At the bottom of the note, he gave his computer password. If they want to get into that computer, they want to see what writings he has, who, if anyone, he was communicating with, that he was doing this alone, what built up to it, if those indicators are there. He left that password for a reason.

As Mary Ellen will tell us, we have this idea that these people snap and go do something like this. They don't snap. It's a slow boil, and they use that time to plan, and then they execute.

COATES: Mary Ellen, talk to me about that, the idea of not only leaving a note, but also to leave his passwords visible, to almost invite them to follow his breadcrumb trail. Tell me what that reveals to you about who this person was and his planning and his mental state.

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR PROFILER AND SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: It tells me a couple of things but it suggests, number one, that he did want the notes found and he wanted for law enforcement to be able to access his computer and learn more about what was going on with him.

He also appeared to be mission-oriented, which is a term I've used over the years, which means the offender, the shooter, is very committed to carrying out the act, and they will put their life on the line if necessary to carry out the crime no matter what the final or the end results are.

But I think the one thing that's really interesting, and John just hinted on it, I think investigators are really attempting to find out more about his mental health.

So, it does not make sense to me that he had these two prior mental health situations that the mental health professionals would have told him it's likely CTE. They wouldn't have done that because CTE cannot be diagnosed until after death. It's more than likely that they talked about other mental health problems that were causing the delusions and the paranoia and the depression.

And so, he self-educated himself more than likely about what CTEs were and what it meant for him, and that's where they probably will uncover, not for sure, but likely to uncover that this delusion that he had really developed, and he began to believe it, hook, line and sinker, which is consistent with the mental health disorder and that that was part of the motivation. So, I think separating out who told him what is going to be important.

Again, I don't think mental health would have said CTE, can't diagnose anything, and you're sort of on your own. I'd be most surprised if that happened.

COATES: Also suggests the distrust for whoever was working with him, if they were, on that diagnosis that he used his own research instead, if that's the case. Thank you both so much. I know the story continues to develop.

Up next, Hawaii is bracing for the first potential tsunami impacts. Evacuations are underway. An update from the Weather Center is straight ahead.

[23:35:01]

Plus, your questions on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal answered. Send them to me, cnn.com/epsteinquestions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: Breaking news, parts of Northern California now under a tsunami warning after the largest earthquake, nearly 15 years long, rocked the Pacific Ocean.

[23:40:02] Joining me now, Dave Snider, a tsunami warning coordinator of the National Tsunami Warning Center. Dave, what can you tell us about this new warning for parts of Northern California?

DAVE SNIDER, TSUNAMI WARNING COORDINATOR, NATIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER: Thanks. We've been watching the wave move across the Northern Pacific, and we're getting indications out of Western Alaska that this wave will focus some of its energy in areas in Northern California, specifically for the Redwoods coastline, north of Eureka, and including places like Crescent City that have historic impacts from tsunami.

COATES: What do people expect then from those areas, including there, and also Hawaii, who also has issued evacuation orders?

SNIDER: I'm not as worried about the Bay Area right now, so good news. And the other part of the good news for all of the state of California really is that this is arriving at low tide. So, that will help to minimize impacts.

However, we're focusing on Northern California right now and the tsunami warning means that water above that high tide line may inundate normally dry places there. So, this is an ocean surge, a flood from the ocean. It's not a surf wave or a friendly wave that you'd like to see at the beach. This is a large push of water from the ocean that's going to move into places that normally stay dry. And that's what we're focusing on northern parts of California right now. You mentioned Hawaii.

COATES: Yeah.

SNIDER: Hawaii is still under a warning, and they're treating that very seriously. We have indications that the state is moving to high ground in those areas, and they're staying away from the coastline there, as you would expect.

Other parts of the North American coastline are under tsunami advisories at this point, including areas in Alaska and all the way up toward the British Columbia coastline there, but a large part of Southcentral Alaska and Southeast have been removed from any alerts at this point.

COATES: You're saying advisory or warning. What is the difference in terms of how the people who might be in those areas need to heed?

SNIDER: Great question. So, a warning is the highest level of tsunami alert that we have, and that means dry things are going to get wet. Water above that high tide line may move into those low-lying spots or city streets and out of the bays and harbors. A tsunami advisory, though, is a lot more of a coastal event, bays and marinas and harbors, and the beaches might see unusual levels of water, but we're not expecting the water to get up a lot higher onto the neighboring streets and the dry spots of the city.

So, for those folks in a tsunami advisory, you do need to stay out of the water. You do need to move away from the coast and the beach and out of the bays and harbors. If you're in a liveaboard, get out of the boat and move up to dry or land a little bit further inland.

But if you're in a warning, you need to move much further inland, away from the coast. One mile in or 100 feet up is generally a good rule. But the most important thing I can say to you is that you should follow local emergency orders there from your emergency management team and your law enforcement officials there. If you're in a warning, they're going to be telling you where to go.

COATES: Uh-hmm.

SNIDER: Follow the blue signs that say tsunami evacuation route --

COATES: Yeah.

SNIDER: -- and follow those local instructions.

COATES: Dave Snider, so helpful. Thank you so much. My next guest is known as the reporter who took down Jeffrey Epstein. It was her award- winning work that helped lead him to his arrest. And tonight, she's answering your questions about the case. The Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown is next.

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[23:45:00]

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COATES: You all have been sending in tons of questions about the Epstein files. And tonight, we're here to answer them. Time now for "America Asks." Just a reminder for those of you at home who want to participate, you can send us your questions by going to cnn.com/epsteinquestions.

Joining me now is Julie K. Brown. She's an investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, who has reported extensively on the Epstein case. She is also the author of "Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story."

Julie, welcome. I have so many questions for you and our audience wants to weigh in, so let's get right to it. This is Jerry from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he asks, do the files include names of people who flew to the island?

JULIE K. BROWN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, MIAMI HERALD: Yes, they do, because part of the files contained some of the plane logs that his pilots kept, and those plane logs have been made -- they've been public for a while. You can find them anywhere if you Google them, and you can see some names on those plane logs. So, therefore, there are names in those files from those plane logs.

COATES: Well, let's head over to Biloxi, Mississippi, because John is asking this question. Were there any state -- were there ever any state charges against Ghislaine Maxwell or any other accuser? And if not, can they still be brought? BROWN: There were no state charges brought against anyone other than Jeffrey Epstein and even though state charges were fought because the prosecutor at the time, the state prosecutor in Palm Beach, didn't really want to charge Epstein with anything. So, as you could imagine, since it was hard enough to convince him to charge him with the light deal that he got, they weren't anxious or even interested in going after anybody else that was involved.

COATES: Let's go to Beantown, Boston, Massachusetts. There's a question actually from Leona. I'll take this one. Is Ghislaine Maxwell, if she gets pardoned, will the victims be able to file civil suits?

[23:49:57]

Well, in short answer, yes, because the pardon power relates to what the president has purview over. That's the criminal court system and the federal court. And so there could still be civil litigation quite easily and it's ongoing as we speak. Now, what can happen with that is anyone's guess in the long run. It is a different burden of proof than certainly the criminal courts and just preponderance of evidence.

So, let's go to this one. Julie, I'll ask you this one. Julie, here's a question. William is asking this. Was the official Epstein autopsy report ever released?

BROWN: No. It seems to me it's something that could answer some of the questions that we have and also help quiet perhaps some of the conspiracy theories around it.

COATES: Uh-hmm.

BROWN: No. But we do know that there was a noted forensic pathologist at that autopsy who was hired by Epstein's brother, Dr. Michael Baden, and he does not believe that Epstein committed suicide based on his examination which occurred the same time that the New York pathologist was conducting the autopsy.

COATES: Every question raising yet another one, it seems. Julie, here's a question. Gregory from Columbia, Maryland, just down the road from D.C., asked this question. I'm having trouble understanding why anyone would believe that Jeffrey Epstein had a client list. Do you understand his thought?

BROWN: Yes, I do, because I don't believe he had a client list. I think what he's getting at is people who do these kinds of business transactions, so to speak, because that's what this was to Epstein in some ways. He was using these women to some degree as pawns for him to ingratiate himself with people that he could do business with or that he did do business with.

So, I don't think there was necessarily like a piece of paper with the names listed 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. But I do believe that he kept files on people. I've heard that he kept files on people. I mean, we really don't know 100% for sure. I think it's possible the FBI could have gathered a list. I mean, we don't really know, but I find it very doubtful that Epstein actually had, you know, a notebook with a list of people like that.

COATES: Well, that raises the question from the Epstein files to what is it in Epstein's files. I'm curious about that as well now. I have a question here for me. Looks like this is Joey from Syracuse. He asks, shouldn't Bondi or Todd Blanche recuse themselves?

Well, technically there are ethical rules in terms of the federal government and the inability to misuse an official office if there's a conflict of interest or otherwise. Having been a private attorney for the president United States, there's a real argument being made that at least Todd Blanche would not be able to, as a part of DOJ, inquire as to matters related to Donald Trump. They don't want a conflict of interest. They don't want to perceive misuse of power.

But, of course, who would actually enforce that or have reprimand the person if they did that? You guessed it. It's the DOJ. So likely that won't be pursued to its full course.

Finally, we've got Josh -- excuse me -- John from Massachusetts, Julie. John asks you this question. Where did Jeffrey Epstein get his money to start with?

BROWN: We do not know the answer to that question. I have been saying for years that that is something that should be investigated. As they say, follow the money.

COATES: Hmm.

BROWN: And we don't think that the Justice Department has done that. We do know that the banks, for example, that he did business with, paid these victims millions of dollars. They usually don't do that unless there's something suspect or something problematic in the banking -- with these banking institutions. So, it's a very good question that we don't know the answer to and that our government should be investigating.

COATES: You know, I said last question, but I've got one more because this question keeps coming up and our audience is always very eager to participate in these conversations. And here's one that has come up more than once. I think more probably contextually, too. It is Ramesh from Texas, Julie, and he asked this question. Why should I care about the release of the Epstein files?

BROWN: Well, this was a very heinous crime. And just beyond this, the aspect of him abusing all these girls, this was a huge failure on the part of our government and our justice system. In other words, the idea that anyone who commits such a serious crime, along with probably other people that helped him, were able to get away with this.

[23:55:02]

And getting away with it means that they were able to continue abusing other children and young women. So, people should care because we don't want to have predators walking around. That's one of the concerns, by the way, that the victims have right now, about the potential for Maxwell to get some kind of a deal where she would be out.

COATES: Julie K. Brown, so glad to have you here. I know everyone has been wondering and wanted to pick your brain in particular. I certainly see why. Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you for having me.

COATES: And thank you all for watching. "Anderson Cooper 360" is next.

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